Take That Memorabilia

Take That are the rarest of phenomena, a boy band that achieved huge stardom, broke up, and managed to come back from the dead ten years later to take a second bite of the apple and achieve fame a second time around. As well as being the springboard for the incredibly successful solo career of Robbie Williams, the first time out they were by far the biggest of the British boy bands, although they never made an impression in the US.

Formed in 1990, by the time they split in 1996 they'd sold a staggering 25 million records, and two of their CDs ended up among the best-selling releases of the decade in Britain (one, perhaps unsurprisingly, was a Greatest Hits collection).

That means, in essence, there are two kinds of Take That memorabilia, the first covering the initial incarnation of the band, and the second since its reformation, which has been far bigger than anyone could have predicted, with best-selling discs and sell-out tours - Take That have been welcomed back with open arms, and interestingly mostly by those who bought their CDs the first time around.

Take That Mark 1

Time has passed since the original Take That called it a day in 1996, so memorabilia from that era is more expensive, especially because the group contained Robbie Williams at that time, and his popularity remains massive.

What you'll find is that there are quite a number of autographed photos and CDs around (although you should really only buy those from recognised dealers and with a certificate of authenticity to be sure you're getting the real thing).

For photos the average price seems to be around £199, and just £20 more for signed CDs with gold discs. Autographed book covers run a little less.

Merchandised items were very common, to the extent that prices haven't risen as much as a collector might hope. Photo books, annuals, biographies and so on can be found for less than £7. For any serious collector, these aren't items worth any kind of investment, however small it may be.

Something worthwhile, though, are old fan club packs, whether it's pack one or two. Although mass produced for the fan club, at this distance they've become relatively rare enough to have gained in value, although they'll never be true high ticket items.

Perhaps the strangest offering, however, is a collection of Take That guitar plectrums - which are plectrums with different pictures of the group on them, decidedly odd because they were a vocal group, meaning the plectrums are unused!

Take That Mark 2

The majority of items for the re-formed Take That go for fairly modest prices - you can even find autographed set lists for just £60 on eBay, and other autographed items sell for less.

However, a few are offered for more, like an autographed CD for £199 - although notably that hadn't been quickly snapped up.

The truly rare items, like stage costumes, have been sold (a few of them at least) at a charity auction, which means some might reappear at other auctions at some point.

What this does indicate is that the new version of the group, no matter how popular their record sales and concert tickets might be, hasn't yet brought forth any particularly memorabilia.